a look at writing, marketing & the mindset to improve your skills in both.

Writers block. It’s a term that describes when you’re about to start writing a piece, or you’re in the middle of writing a piece, but there are no sentences coming to mind. You go to start a sentence, but it lacks direction or coherence. Or you sit there with a mental blank and not even a clue on what topic to write about! If you only write for leisure then this can be a frustrating experience, but there’s always the option to walk away from what you’re doing and come back at a later time when the inspiration returns. If you’re writing for your business, it’s usually a different story. There are deadlines to meet. Deadlines unsympathetic to your ability to create a blog post that will be interesting and useful to your target audience. So you sit there with the clock ticking, wondering “What on Earth am I going to write?” This dilemma isn’t just something occasional writers suffer from- it even afflicts authors, editors and copywriters from time to time! If you keep a regular blog for your business that often features original content, then you’ve no doubt encountered a mental blank like this at least once! But no matter your business, here are a few quick steps to help you create a new blog post for your business, even if you don’t have a topic to begin with:

1. What will be of interest to my target audience?

Who are the people you do business with? What are their main problems or concerns that they entrust you or your business with solving? Many times, you will find that the problems you encounter are the same problems or issues that your target audience encounters. If the topic you decide to write about falls into this category of shared problem/ issue then your task is made easier, because you’re able to relate personally to the problem/s afflicting your target audience. There’s more incentive for your target audience to continue reading an article when they feel as if the author understands them and their problems and can relate personally.

2. In terms of skillset, expertise or my profession, what can I ad to this topic?

As a voice of authority in your industry, what great ideas, handy tips or useful advice can you share with your target audience? Perhaps you’re a mechanic who knows first-hand the costly problems that can surprise a person who puts off servicing their car? Maybe you work at a nursery and have noticed that many customers are watching their household plants and flowers die off because they aren’t receiving the suitable water/ light/ nutrients needed to grow and thrive? Perhaps you work with cosmetics and know some quick, easy tips that will help your target audience avoid suffering dry/ broken/ blotchy skin? Generally speaking, you either want to a) Present a problem you have the solution to, or b) Discuss a problem, product, service or concept that you can ad useful information to. Not only will many of your readers be thankful you helped answer a query of theirs, but regularly posting articles of this nature positions you as the “go to” person amongst your target audience. Should they have problems or queries of a similar nature in future, there’s a great chance they will bring their questions to you- as well as their business!

3. How can I be of service?

In short: How can you help? Perhaps you’re stocking a fantastic new product that is the solution to a problem commonly afflicting your target audience? Maybe you’ve learnt a useful skill or acquired new knowledge that can be of great benefit to your customers? Maybe you’ve had several customers or readers asking you the same question and you’ve decided to help them out by delivering a qualified answer in a single post? No matter the subject matter, writing a blog post or article for your business is only worth the time if you are able to offer something of value to your readers- in whatever form that may be.

4. How can I keep it as short and sweet as possible?

For anybody in business large or small, time is a precious commodity. It’s enough of a task going through your e-mail inboxes filtering out the junk from the e-mails worth reading, responding to or keeping on file! While your latest tips, suggestions or ideas may be of great benefit to your target audience, chances are they’re not going to clear their diary to make time to read your article. Whatever you’re looking to write about, how can you get the message across in as fewer words as possible? Whatever you have to share with your target audience, keep it bite-sized! The next tip will help a lot with trimming your article down to size:

5. What is my post about, in one sentence?

Knowing this makes it easier for you to get straight to the point as quickly and easily as possible when you write. If it takes several long-winded sentences just to summarise your post, then chances are it will take several long-winded paragraphs to actually write it. You want to keep it short and sweet, remember? Furthermore, knowing what your post is about (and knowing how it will benefit your target audience) in just one sentence also makes it easier to come up with a heading for your entire article. Having a catchy, informative heading often makes all the difference between your target audience passing on your article or taking a few minutes of their time to actually read it. Being able to sum up your post in one sentence makes it much easier for you to get to the point- and this is what your target audience is searching for as soon as they begin to read!Following these 5 steps will help you next time you need to write an article or blog post and find your creative energy chained back by “writers’ block”. How am I so sure? This entire post is testament to that! 3 hours ago I had no idea what I was going to write here, so instead I sat down, went over these 5 steps - and 1,000 words later this is the result- a 1,000 word post inspired by not having anything to write about in the first place! This is not just something I can do because of my profession- by following the 5 steps listed here, the same opportunity is open to you, too. I wish you the best with your next post, and feel free to link me to your new article if these steps help you write one!

Just recently, I finished reading ‘How to Wow’ by John Dwyer. This is the man whose CV includes working with KFC, Red Rooster, Pizza Hut, Caltex, 7Eleven, Disney and Warner Brothers. He is, however, better known as the man responsible for turning around the fortunes of the Greater Building Society with their ‘Get a home loan and get a free holiday’ offer that launched in 2001. As a result of this, the Greater enjoyed fantastic sales growth and did so without advertising their interest rate for 9 years running. They were the only financial institution in the world to do so. Dwyers’ association with the Greater culminated in him enticing one Jerry Seinfeld to produce a series of hugely successful advertisements for them 5 years ago. With a history of success like that, I was keen to read about his experiences in marketing and gain some fresh ideas. By the end of reading, the top of the book was littered with yellow and purple post-its sticking out the top on account of all the pages with ideas that especially stood out to me. No matter the size of your business or how long you’ve been immersed in your particular field of industry, I highly recommend you take the time to read ‘How to Wow’. Upon my completion of the book I felt inspired, enthusiastic and my head was full of new ideas I had barely given much thought to before I began reading. Although there is plenty to read and digest throughout the whole book, I thought I would share with you (in abbreviated form) John’s 10 Steps for attracting more clients to your business- and doing it more easily!

1. Determine your target market very clearly In essence, determine who your most profitable customers are and what they look like- then find more people who look just like them. The old 80/20 rule applies here (80% of your business comes from 20% of your client base).2. Be the expert! By positioning yourself as the expert in your area of expertise (this takes time) you will stand out from your competitors and people will be drawn to you as the go-to person in your industry. Ensure you willingly and freely provide solutions to any problems that people bring to you, because that’s what experts do. You can do this by sending free media releases, hosting complimentary webinars, by posting blogs regularly. The most important thing is being seen- and being seen frequently!3. Create a ‘Wow’ factor Learn to deliver the unexpected. Get used to giving your customers a pleasant surprise. If you do what your competitors do, you get what your competitors get. To quote John: “Don’t follow the crowd and don’t wear beige”. If you decide not to do this, your communications with potential customers will probably be invisible for the most part, just like the majority of the other 3,000 advertising messages we are subjected to everyday.4. Use the problem/ solution formula Highlight the common problems that occur to your target market- then provide your particular solution to their problem. We all want our problems to disappear as quickly as possible, so if someone provides us with a magic formula, there’s every chance they’ll get our attention!5. Get rid of your boring website- ASAP! Think of your website Home Page as if it is the front cover of your company sales brochure. Your Home Page needs a compelling headline that addresses the problem/ solution for your target market, needs persuasive copy, an explanatory welcome video, a data capture facility and video testimonials. Your website needs to be purposefully themed and toned to suit your target audience. Your website Home Page is the “make or break” in the online world. If your Home Page has an average short “visitation time” and you’re not making sales, a high bounce rate indicates its’ time to fix your boring website. Do it as soon as you can!6. Do events!

With an event, you are able to attract lots of clients in the one pitch. Whenever you are in front of a prospective client, you do your best to highlight the benefits of your products or services. You acknowledge the problems and challenges that your prospect might have and then try to convince them that our product or service is the solution they’re looking for. When you hold a seminar and have a group of business owners in the one room, you’re making one presentation to multiple prospects at the same time. You can have the same opportunity for your own business, in front of dozens of ‘warm’ prospects for a number of hours. 7. Use video testimonials!

You would be surprised how many businesses, small to large, have no video content whatsoever on their sites. Everybody loves the collect glowing testimonials for their products or services, but collecting video testimonials from your satisfied customers is a step above simply collecting written testimonials. It ads an extra level of authenticity and “social proof” to your marketing message- provided the testimonials are legitimate, of course!8. Get free publicity

Small businesses, for the most part, don’t take advantage of the opportunities to get free publicity in the offline or online media. Could you provide the local newspaper with an E-Book to give away and reap great benefits courtesy of the local newspaper promoting your website for the free download? Is there something genuinely interesting or newsworthy about your business or staff that could be of interest to the local media? When sending out media releases, ensure that the story is newsworthy. If it looks like a poorly disguised advertorial, it will be regarded as an advertisement and treated as such. Turn your message into a story that is newsworthy, one that readers will find interesting and the journalist will find engaging. Think about your business, its products or services and how you might be able to excite the media online or offline about what you do. 9. Deliver extraordinary customer service

If you think about it, is simply providing good customer service really enough? We generally expect “good” customer service as it is. Experiencing “bad” service doesn’t happen too often outside of government departments after all! You have to go beyond “good service” if you’re going to make a lasting impression on your clients. I can’t remember the last time I heard somebody bother to mention how they received “satisfactory” service. Can you? When you provide extraordinary customer service , the domino principle kicks in and before too long, you have committed customers out and about singing your praises! You also have a client who could be very valuable from a “lifetime value” point of view…10. Build repetitive trade.

You want more than one customer and one sale. In order for any business to be successful, you want multiples of each! How to do this is to develop a marketing system within your business that provides an incentive for clients to return over and over again, becoming a loyal advocate. Why not consider creating a simple Loyalty Scheme for your business? People love to feel special and this is an easy way of providing good clients with such a feeling- and at the same time encouraging them to become a loyal long-term client. The important thing to remember for your business is that when you have a competitive company with similar prices and service to yours, a “continuity program” can provide the distinguishable difference for your business, helping you attract the greater number of clients. By rewarding long-standing customers for their loyalty, you also reduce the threat of new competitors stealing your client base. Why would your happy clients ever want to go anywhere else? All these ten points are expanded on in the book and there’s plenty more ideas, tips and suggestions throughout that present golden opportunities for your business- but you’ll have to read all about them in ‘How to Wow’ for yourself!

In an ideal world, we would all get it right the first time, wouldn’t we? How much time, energy and frustration we would all be spared! The reality is that sometimes, a project of any sort can take two, three or even more attempts before we get it “just right”. Copywriting is no different- having a way with words and knowing how to write content that gets the desired response from its’ audience still doesn’t make us mind-readers. Next time you work with a copywriter, following these 5 steps during the initial briefing stage will greatly improve the chances of getting the results you want- and getting them the first time! 1. Tell us who your target market/ demographic is. By doing this, the copywriter will have a direct understanding of who your content is aimed at, and write it specifically with them in mind. ‘Tone’ refers to the feeling behind the written words- is it meant to be light-hearted and fun, direct and factual, comforting and conservative or news so exciting that the words only stop short of leaping off the page? For this reason, you can understand why the website for a ski resort will have quite a different tone to that of a funeral home! By telling the copywriter who you are promoting your products or services to, they can go away and write content that enables your target market to feel as if their needs/ wants are understood and that you have made a connection with them. This is the first major step towards getting them as a customer! 2. Tell us what the features/ benefits are of your product or service. During the initial briefing process, in the mind of a copywriter there is simply no such thing as “Too much information”, believe me! The more information you can share with us about the features and benefits of your product or service, the easier it is to write informative, compelling content that answers the two questions that are most important to your target market, no matter their demographic: who are you and how will your product/ service/ event benefit them? This is the second major step towards turning them into paying customers. 3. Is there a word limit/ space limit for your written content? By doing this, your copywriter knows straight away what parameters they have to work within, if they exist to start with. From the perspective of a copywriter, there are few things more frustrating than wasting time, knowledge and creative energy to write easy reading, informative sales copy- only to then find out that it’s going to take a further 2 hours slashing sentences and condensing the whole piece because it turns out there’s only space for 200 words! It’s much easier (and more effective) to start out writing content designed to fit into a limited space than it is to write large amounts of content then dissect it and attempt to squish it all together into something that is informative, compelling and easy to follow, believe me! 4. What results are you seeking? Do you want your written content to result in your target market being better informed about your product or service? Are you hoping to get more potential customers on the phone chatting to you or a member of your sales team? Want to sell a new product/ service to existing customers? Perhaps your number one objective is simply to entertain/ inform your target audience as part of building up your Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? Whatever your true intention is behind having new content written or existing content edited, be sure to give your copywriter a very clear understanding of why you’ve come to rely on their services in the first place. By doing this, they will know what your desired outcome is from the beginning- and can go away and write content that achieves the exact purpose you enlisted the help of a copywriter for in the first place. The outcome? Everybody wins! 5. What sets you apart from the rest? Is there anything interesting, great or outstanding that separates you or your business from your competitors? Tell us all about it! Having a tangible, visible uniqueness to your business makes it easier for your copywriter to go away and write content that is a distinct reflection of this. More often than not, these little details that set you apart from your competitors make a big difference in sales volume- if given just the right treatment. This is what makes a copywriter so valuable to businesses and business people- knowing what to share with your target market so they remember your name and come to you (opposed to the others). This gives them their best chance at becoming a happy/ loyal customer and best of all? They will be yours.

Sometimes, explaining the thought process that comes with writing content that your audience will find engaging can be a task in itself! The following article (courtesy of Yael Grauer) sums it up so well, it could have been titled 'Copywriting 101'. This article, more than most, sums up what goes on in the mind of a copywriter with every new project, every new blog post or every editorial piece that we sit down to brainstorm over. Hopefully this article also helps you with your written endeavours- in whatever form that may be! As for what relevance the above image has to the subject matter? You'll just have to read on and discover for yourself!